The Thomas Jefferson Discussion Group of Orlando, Florida
Meeting No. 36 - April 20, 2004
Holiday House Restaurant, Orlando, Florida
THIS MONTH'S TOPIC:
THE WAR ON TERRORISM
Was Jefferson right when he said that the people in Iraq will be free?
Strange question since Jefferson died in 1826 and Iraq was formed after
World War I in 1920 by the League of Nations an artifact of the British
Empire's successful effort to help the tribes of the region free themselves
from the Turks of the Ottoman Empire - remember T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia)?
Ironically, as a League of Nations mandate, Iraq erupted in violence after
liberation, just as it has now.
Or, is the question so strange?
When Jefferson said governments are formed by the people to help secure the
people's "unalienable" to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness he just
didn't mean white European people.
"I sincerely pray that all the members of the human family may, in the time
prescribed by the Father of us all, find themselves securely established in
the enjoyment of life, liberty, and happiness." --Thomas Jefferson: Reply to
Ellicot Thomas, et al., 1807.
"Instead of that liberty which takes root and growth in the progress of
reason, if recovered by mere force or accident, it becomes with an
unprepared people a tyranny still of the many, the few, or the one."
--Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 1815.
Also, the inalienable rights Jefferson specifies are natural or God given
take your pick. As such, it is not possible for us to choose whether we want
them or not. They are imbedded in our being we cannot separate ourselves
from them, deny their existence, or withhold them from any other human
being.
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